The possibly disastrous consequences of global warming due to increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide emanating from the burning of fossil fuels have been widely recognized in recent years, and several solvent- and sorbent-based technologies for capturing CO2 emissions have been explored. State-of-the-art technology using aqueous amines for CO2 capture from flue gas streams produced by existing pulverized coal (PC) burning electricity generating power plants has turned out to be too costly. Analysis conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) shows that CO2 capture using amines and compression to pipeline pressure (80 to 140 atmospheres) raises the cost of electricity from a newly-built PC power plant by 84%, from 4.9 cents/kWh to 9.0 cents/kWh.
It is an object of our invention to provide a low-cost energy-saving method of capturing more than 90% of the CO2 from flue gas streams produced by existing coal-fired electricity generating power plants and by other major CO2-generating sources, such as cement production, oil and gas processing, petrochemical industry, iron and steel industry, or aluminum and other metals producers, so as to help alleviate global warming.
It is another object of our invention to provide a low-cost energy-saving method of capturing most of the CO2 from flue gas streams produced by the internal combustion engines of fossil fuel-powered motor vehicles.
It is still another object of our invention to provide a method of capturing enough CO2 from the atmosphere to permit prevention and possibly even reversal of global warming.
Our invention also addresses the problem of the impending exhaustion of worldwide supplies of petroleum.
In 1970, Hubbert of the U.S. Geological Survey made his famous survey of the amount of available global oil resources and estimated that it would climax at about 2000. According to recent DOE publications, the estimated climax will most likely occur in the year 2016 or at the latest in 2037, after which time impending shortages of petroleum supplies would most adversely impact most forms of transportation and most global economies.
It is therefore a further object of our invention to provide a process for generating ample supplies of a relatively inexpensive liquid fuel.
It is a still further object of our invention to effectuate major cost and energy savings by eliminating the need to compress captured CO2 to pipeline pressure by converting it instead at a substantially lower pressure directly into a usable fuel, such as methanol.
It is also a further object of our invention to effectuate major cost and energy savings by eliminating the need to transport the captured CO2 to a separate facility.
Recent advances in the development of solar- and wind-powered energy sources may offer environmentally clean electricity at low cost. However, a major problem with these sources is the variability of their power generation and the lack of inexpensive ways of storing energy when their available power exceeds usage demands.
It is therefore yet another object of our invention to provide an advantageous storage means for solar and wind energy by utilizing the available excess power to produce usable fuels.
More objects of the invention will become apparent to professionals in the chemical and electrical engineering, metallurgical, environmental, law enforcement, and related areas following perusal of the complete specification.